Tablet shipments, meanwhile, grew 57 per cent to 243m units, with 90m units being shipped in the quarter ending December alone. Apple and Samsung claimed a 47 per cent share of the tablet market between them.

"The smartphone market's continued growth has been driven by ever-increasing demand in emerging markets, particularly in Asia,” market analyst Oliver Rowntree stated.

“China was the largest market globally, with a total size of 310m units, and was dominated in large part by domestic brands such as Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and Coolpad.

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